Wbat Unbelief u and is 110t. it is Confcience, and not BelitfofScriptttre, which mu~ fay, [! do jifzcer~ly believe] Theref~re t?e Conclufion [that I am juftified, and jhaU ht faved] IS a RatiOnal CoUcllton from what I find m Scripwre and in my felf, fee togeth:,_r ; ~nd ~eful~m~ fromi>or~1, ~an b7 no firm~r or Ji~rer than 1s the we,zJtcr of the prem1fes : Now ...ertamty IS objelhve or [ubjelllve : m the 'Thmg, or 111 my Ap– prehenfion : .As to Objcllive Certainty.~" the thing it felf, all tmths. are eqttaUy. true.: But all_TruthS' arc not equally difccrnable ; there bemg much more caufe o~ doubong con~ernmg {ome (wlu~h are Jefs evident) than concerning others ( which are more ev1dent ). And !o the Truth of Godt pro· mife of Jufiification to believers, is more certain, that is, bath fuUer furer Evidence fb be difcerned by, than the Truth of my fincere beljcving: And [ tkat! f!ncerely_ ~elieve J is the more Debi.lt _of the premifes, and therefore the concluhon followeth th1s 111 tts Deh.'hty; And fo c~n be no arttcle of faitb. And as to tl~e fubjellive Certainty, that vary.eth · accordmg to mens vanous apprehenflons. The prcmifes as i1t their evidence or aptitude to a{ctrtam tu, arc the caufc of the Conclufion as evident) or knowable. And the premifes "' apprelmukd are the Caufe_ of the Conclujio>t as lznowlt. Now it is a great d9ubt with feme, Whether a man can poffibly be more certai;t that he believ- Whether a tth than he is that the tbing believed i1 true ; becaufe the act can extend no further than the ob· mln on ·~e jeci; and to be fure I believe, is but to be fure that 1 take the thing believe~ to be true : But I null :h~:e h~t·t~~ grant the contrary, that amanmay poffibly be. furer that he believeth, than he is that the thing he· lieveth, th:m lieved is true; beca.ufe my believing is nor alwayes a full fubjeftive cenainty, that the thing U true; he. is thlt. eh~ but a believing that its uue. And though you are fuUy certain that aU God; word ir true; yet you ~hmg bebevcd may believe that thi1 ~ hi1 wordwith fame mixture of unbelief or doubting: And fo the quefiion is 15 uue? but this, \Vhether you may not certainly without dfJubting know, that ·you Believe the Word Of God to be true, rhough with fomc doubting. And it feems you may. But then it· is a further quetlion, Whether yo• can be fi<rer of the favin'g jincerity ofyour faitb, than you are that tbi< Word of God U true: And that ordinarily mert doubt of the fitft as much as they doubt of the later, I think is an experimented truth. But yet grant that with (bme it may be otherwifc ( Bt!caufe he believeth fin- (trely, that fo far believeth the Word ofGod, as to tru!\ his life and foul upon it, and forfake.all iQ.obedience to it: And that I do fo, I may know with lt[t doubti>~g, than I yet have about the 'truth of tbc Word fa believed ) All that will follow is but this, That of .thofe men that doubt of their JuftificatiOit and Salvation; fome of their doubts are caufed more by their doubting of GodJ Word, than by the doubting whether they jincertly though doubt,ingly believe it' : and the doubt, of othtrt ·.. whether they are jultified and flull be Caved, is eaufed much more by their doubting of their own .•· fincere belief, than by their doubting of the truth of Scripturet. And the f~r greatefl number Of Chriflians feem to themfelves to be of this later fort. For no doubt, but though a man of clear Un· dcrfianding can fcarce)y believe, and yet not kn'ow that be bclievttb ; yet he may believe fincerefy, and not know that he believetb fincerely. But fiill the k.,norvledg,e. of our own jufiific::tion, is but the ef– fill or progwy of our Beliefof the Word ofGod, and of our Kilorr>ledge that we do fi>tcerely believe it, which conjiinctly are the Parent I and Cau{e1 C!f it: And it can be n(? flronger than the weak!r. of · the ParentJ, (which in ej[t cognofcibili is our faith, but in effe cOgnitt~ is fometin1e the bne, and tOme· time the other.) And the tjfell is not the cau[t: The effect of faith and lznowledgt conjunct, is n6t faitb it felf. It is not a Believing the 1-Yord nfGod, to believe that ) 'OU believe, ot that you are Jufti– fied: But yet becaufe that faith is one of theParcntt of it, fome call it by the na~nc af[>ith; though they thould call it but an effell of faitb ( as one of the cau{es. ) And well may our doubtingJ of our own falvarion, be faid to be from Vnbclief, becaufeVnbelief is one of the Cau[tt of them, and the jinfuUej! Caufe. · §. 2· And,t~tthe Article of Remiffion of fin is to be Believed with appl;catio~ to our felveJ, is cCt- The ~rticle of tain: But not with the application ot Affurance, Perfrvafron or Beli~f that wC are alr~ady plrdoned ; Rem1ffion of but with an applying Acceptance of an offered pardon, and Confent to the Covenaut \Yhich maketh it fn ,tJ. be ~.o'urs. We believe that Chrifi. bath pur10:hafed Rcmiffion of fin , and made a Condifiona:l Grant of !~~~;. app )" it in his Gofpel, to all, vi;s;.if they wiU Repent, and Believe in him, or tal{f himfor tbeil' Savi1ur, or beI b)· come Penitent Chrijfiam ; And we con[ent ~o do[o, and to accept it rm thefe term; : And we believe that all are aUually pardoned that thus con[ent. 9· 3• By all this you may perceive, that thofe troubled Chri!\ians which doubt not of the truth of the IYord of God, but only of their ow1t fincerity, and confequently of their ]ufl:itication and Salvati· on, do ignorantly complain that they have not faith, or that they camtot believe : For it is no atl of unbelief at alJ, for me to doubt whether t71J own heatt be fincere : This is my ig1tor.mcc ofmy felf, but it is not any degree of unbeliif: For Gods Word. doth no where fay that I am jincere: and then– fore I may doubt of thi<, without doubting of Gods Word at all. And let all troubled Chrillians know, that thi:y have no ntore unbeliefin tbem, than they have doubting or un/Jelie( of the truth of the w,rd ofGod: Even that de]j>air it!df, which hath none of this in it, hath '" unheli'f in it (if there ~e a~y fuch ~: I. thought it needful thus far to t~U you what mtbclitf is, before I come to glV'e you Dm:ntonJ agamfi tt : And though the meer doubtmg of our own fincerity be ·no unbeliefat a!l, yet real unbelief ?f. the very. truth of the Holy Scr.ipturcs, is [o common and dangerous a fin, and_ fame degree of tt IS latent m the belt, that I· thmk we can no way fo much further the work ot Grace, as by. d.efiroyin{? this; ~h~ weaknefs of our ~aith in the tiuth of Scriptures, and the remnant of our unbeluf of It, IS ~he prmctpal caufe of all tne langu.iiliings of our Love and Obedience and every Guce; and to tlrengthen faith, is to tlrengthen all. What I have fullier written in my Sa1ntl Rej!, Part 2• and my Treatife again a Infidelil) I here fpppofe. 9·4• Direct."
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